would not have become tired even if I had got more than two months; not only that but I would have added usefully to my knowledge and studies. I would have passed a happy life, believing as I do that whoever has a taste for reading good books is able to bear loneliness in any place with great ease.
RELIGIOUS STUDY
In the West, we now see, that, as a matter of fact, the State looks after the religion of all its prisoners, and hence, we find a Church in the Johannesburg prison for its inmates, but it is provided to meet only the needs of the Whites, who alone are allowed access thereto. I asked for special permission for Mr. Foretoon and myself, but the Governor told me it was only for White Christian prisoners. Every Sunday they attend it, and preachers of different denominations give them religious lessons there.
Several missionaries come in to convert the Kaffirs also with special permission. There is no Church for them; they sit in the open. Jews also have got their preachers to look after them. It is only the Hindus and Mahomedans who are spiritually left unprovided for. There are not many Indian prisoners, it is true, but the absence of any such provision for them is hardly creditable to them. The leaders of both communities should, therefore, lay their heads together, and arrange for the religious instruction of the members of their community in jail, even if there be only one convict. The preachers, whether Hindus or Moulvis, should be pure-hearted, and they should be careful not to become thorns in the sides of the convicts.
